Dorothy then saw the gray back of Garford Knapp ahead of them. She turned swiftly for the exit of the hotel.
“Come!” she said, “let’s get a breath of air before breakfast. It—it will give us an appetite!” And she fairly dragged Tavia to the sidewalk.
“Well, I declare to goodness!” volleyed Tavia, staring at her. “And just now you were as hungry as a bear. And you still seem to have a bear’s nature. How rough! Don’t you want to see that young man?”
“Never!” snapped Dorothy, and started straight along toward the Hudson River.
Tavia was for the moment silenced. But after a bit she asked slyly:
“You’re not really going to walk clear home, are you, dear? North Birchland is a long, long walk—and the river intervenes.”
Dorothy had to laugh. But her face almost immediately fell into very serious lines. Tavia, for once, considered her chum’s feelings. She said nothing regarding Garry Knapp.
“Well,” she murmured. “I need no appetite—no more than I have. Aren’t you going to eat at all this morning, Dorothy?”
“Here is a restaurant; let us go in,” said her friend promptly.
They did so, and Dorothy lingered over the meal (which was nowhere as good as that they would have secured at the Fanuel) until she was positive that Mr. Knapp must have finished his own breakfast and left the hotel.